You are nearsighted and your child is starting to become nearsighted and you are worried about how strong their glasses prescription will be.  You are thinking:

Is this going to affect their performance in school?

Is this going to affect their ability to compete in sports?

or is it going to make them more dependent on glasses or contact lenses.

It used to be that your eye doctor would say that there is nothing you can do…it is all genetic and just like you can’t control your height, your myopia is all genetic.  

Well that is not true anymore and I am going to give you 3 ways to reduce myopia progression and I am going to tell you why you need to act now. 

I’m Dr. Michael Nelson your youtube eye doctor and Winnipeg Optometrist near you and this is Good Optometry Morning.

What is Myopia?

Myopia is an eye condition that occurs when the eye is bigger than it needs to be and it results in symptoms of nearsightedness…or not being able to see far away without using eyeglasses or contact lenses.

Why Myopia matters?

Before I get into 3 ways to reduce your myopia that you are really going to want to hear about, let me tell you why it is so important to act now.

So one thing that is clear about myopia…is that it has the biggest increases during the time when kids are growing the most… between the ages of 8 and 18.  That is when your eye is growing the most and if you are going to become nearsighted it’s likely during these critical years.  

Here are reasons why it is important for you to act now.

1. Sooner you start treating the lower the prescription is going to be: So if you start myopia management when you are -1.00 your final prescription will likely be lower than if you wait to start until -2.00.  The sooner you start the better.
2. They higher your prescription the more dependent you are on glasses. Take a look at this simulator.  If you have no myopia this is how you would see the classroom.  If you have -1.00 the classroom is a little blurry, but you might able to function without your glasses…but if you are -6.00 you basically need to wear glasses for anything you do.  This dependency could affect your ability to perform in school and could affect your competitiveness in sports
3. And here is probably the most important reason. As you become more myopic your eyeball gets bigger and the tissues stretch.  This puts you a higher risk for eye disease and vision loss as an adult.   Compared to someone who is less than -3, someone who is over -6 has a 7x increased risk of retinal detachment and 20x increased risk of myopic degeneration…both of this can cause debilitating vision loss as an adult.

Since you can’t go back in time it is critical to act and reduce the progression of  the myopia when they is growing and this is when you a kid.

What causes Myopia?

So what causes myopia….So like I said we know that most of the cause is genetic but there definitely are things that we can control.

Myopia Management is one of the newest and most exciting areas in Optometry and eye-care.  

Now let me be very clear about one myth that is out there:  And this that prescribing eyeglasses or contact lenses is one of the things that causes your prescription to increase, this is simply NOT true.  There is no research that shows this.

What research does show is that there are options that can help slow the progression of myopia in children. 

1. Peripheral Defocus Eyeglasses

One theory in the progression of myopia has to do with how lenses focus images in the peripheral retinal.  Traditional lenses focus images in the center of the retina but not in the peripheral parts of the retina.  This defocus in the peripheral retina is thought to cause a stimulus for the eye to continue growing and increase myopia.

Peripheral Defocus Eyeglasses lenses are available that can focus the image on the peripheral retina to try to reduce the progression of myopia.   Theses lenses are not bifocal lenses and they look just like regular eyeglasses lenses.  Studies indicate peripheral defocus eyeglasses can reduce myopia progression by 10-20%.  These lenses cost a little bit more than standard lenses but I think that these lenses are a no brainer for kids with myopia.   If you are wearing glasses anyways why would you not want to choose a lens that can reduce myopia, even by a little bit.  At Waverley Eye Care Centre right here in Winnipeg, we can offer you Peripheral defocus eyeglass lenses and other lens options.

So next are Peripheral Defocus Daily disposable Contact Lenses:  These lenses work with the same principle as glasses but they are more effective than glasses because you are always looking through the center of the lens so these are always working.  Studies indicate that peripheral defocus contact lenses can reduce myopia progression by up to 50%.    At Waverley Eye Care Centre in Winnipeg, we can also offer you Peripheral defocus contact lenses called Misight.

 And the third Low Dose Atropine Eye Drops

Atropine is an eye drop that is commonly used by eye doctors to relax the focusing of the eye and to dilate pupils.   The normal dose used for this purpose is 1% atropine.   

Studies have shown that low dose percentages of atropine (0.01 and 0.05% atropine) can reduce the progression of myopia.   Low dose atropine eye drops are usually used daily and can reduce the progression of myopia by 50-70%.   How low dose atropine reduces myopia is not understood but thereare numerous studies dating back 30 years that show the effectiveness of atropine in reducing the progression of myopia.   We also offer low dose atropine eyedrops at Waverley Eye Care Centre in Winnipeg.

If your child has myopia make sure you ask one of the Winnipeg optometrists at Waverley Eye Care about options we have that can help reduce the progression of myopia.